If I owned 4429 and wanted a little more euphonic sound, but wanted to stay away from tubes. I would look for a rebuilt MC 2200 or MC2155. The 2200 has a very smooth sound, rather warm in fact and with the lower damping factor similar to a tube amp below 800 hz or so. It has power guard you can turn off if you choose and the amp will easily put out 250 watts if rebuilt. 2155 rated around 150 will reach 200 watts before the Power Guard turns on and is a little sweeter on the high end and quieter. I used them to bi amp large Altec and JBL Horn driver combinations. They both did a great job. If you want tight critical bass then you want a MC 7200 that doesn't use autoformers and there fore has a higher damping factor, very low distortion and good signal to noise ratio; a very important spec with JBL speakers. The later Mac amps have smooth sound but fit the more modern idea of what critical sound amplification should be. Remember the new series of 275 has over 100 db signal to noise and will put out over 100 watts before clipping. And because of impedance mis match you are going to loose about 1.5 db sensitivity. So I would try the 8 ohm tap, too and let your ears be your guide. With the MC7200, this is a non-issue. Wonder what they would sound like with the 2301's? Impressive I bet.
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